Last week when the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) posted its weekly national rankings showing the Akron Zips at No. 17, the squad had fire in its eyes. This put Akron in the position of being definite underdogs this past weekend when going to Columbus, Ohio, to fire against No. 14 Ohio State, No. 12 UTEP and No. 10 Murray State on November 8. Undaunted, the Zips kept pounding the center of the target without looking back. At the end of the day, the proud Akron squad stood alone at the top of the leaderboard winning the four-way tournament.
Akron captured its second-highest team score of the season at exactly the right time and set two school records on the way.
The now familiar name of Akron senior Natalia Siek was ringing again as she broke the school smallbore record, which she had just set a few weeks ago at Georgia Southern. The 594-40X was not only a new program record, but earned the top-gun honor at this match at OSU.
Fellow Akron senior Rachael Paddock also did Akron proud by finishing in second place with her impressive 586. In attaining this remarkable score, Paddock listed a pair of perfect 100s while in the prone position. Achieving the perfect 200 prone is not an easy task. Out of the 34 competitors, only Paddock and two others managed a perfect 200.
Top gun in air rifle went to Kameron Wells of UTEP and rightfully so as she was on fire posting the elusive perfect 600 out of 600! That’s right, she hit the bullseye with all 60 shots. Really fun to watch.
It was also fun to watch Siek, who did not slow down after she took it all in smallbore. With her air rifle, Siek kept firing 10 after 10 until she accumulated a score of 596 out of 600. This is a new career high mark for Siek with the air rifle. While rewriting the record books, Siek chalked up one more record called the individual aggregate record. This is the total of the smallbore match and the air rifle match added together. The 1190 points accumulated by Siek smashed the old record by a full five points. What a remarkable day this young athlete had at Ohio State.
Akron vs. Ohio State, UTEP and Murray State at OSU Leaderboard
You can see the full results of the match at the NCAA rifle website.
On Saturday, November 15, the Akron rifle team will travel to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for its next contest. The Zips and the No. 7 ranked Midshipmen will light up the ranges at 9:00 a.m. Targets may be viewed at this link.
Learn more about the Akron, Ohio State, UTEP and Murray State rifle programs.
